The Incarnation

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,So are My ways higher than your waysAnd My thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8-9

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.He was in the beginning with God.All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, evento those who believe in His name,who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:1-14

“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock withone shepherd.For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words.Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?” Others were saying, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?”At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem;it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.I and the Father are one.”The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?”The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

John 10:11-38

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.And you know the way where I am going.”Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

John 14:1-6“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

Ceiling Painting of Franz and Joseph Kirchebner, Parish Church in South Tyrol, Italy

Knowing the Unknowable God

“Listen to this, O Job,Stand and consider the wonders of God.“Do you know how God establishes them,And makes the lightning of His cloud to shine?“Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds,The wonders of one perfect in knowledge,You whose garments are hot,When the land is still because of the south wind?“Can you, with Him, spread out the skies,Strong as a molten mirror?“Teach us what we shall say to Him;We cannot arrange our case because of darkness.“Shall it be told Him that I would speak?Or should a man say that he would be swallowed up?

“Now men do not see the light which is bright in the skies;But the wind has passed and cleared them.“Out of the north comes golden splendor;Around God is awesome majesty.“The Almighty—we cannot find Him;He is exalted in powerAnd He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness.“Therefore men fear Him;He does not regard any who are wise of heart.”

Job 37:14-24

“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.“Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts.Malachi 3:1-5

When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.“Blessed are you when peopleinsult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.Matthew 5:1-12

But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

The Jesus We Will Never Know

On that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.”Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea,“Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

Mark 4:35-41

Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?”They told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.”And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?”Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”And He warned them to tell no one about Him.And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Mark 8:27-38

And Jesus was saying to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”Six days later, Jesus *took with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them;and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them.Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus.Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified.Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!”All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

Mark 9:1-8

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; and he took food and was strengthened.Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus...

Some see this first phase as mainly concerned with whether Christians should follow Old Testament practices, see also Christian views on the Old Covenant and Judaizers. Eusebius of Caesarea (Church History, V, xxiii) wrote:"A question of no small importance arose at that time [i.e. the time of Pope Victor I, about A.D. 190]. The dioceses of all Asia, according to an ancient tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon [of Nisan], on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should always be observed as the feast of the life-giving pasch (epi tes tou soteriou Pascha heortes), contending that the fast ought to end on that day, whatever day of the week it might happen to be. However it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world to end it at this point, as they observed the practice, which from Apostolic tradition has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast on no other day than on that of the Resurrection of our Saviour."

Quartodecimanism, a word not used in Eusebius' account as he wrote in Greek, is derived from the Biblical Latin term for the practice of fixing the celebration of Passover for Christians on the fourteenth (Latinquarta decima) day of Nisan in the Old Testament's Hebrew Calendar (for example Lev 23:5). This was the original method of fixing the date of the Passover, which is to be a "perpetual ordinance".[1] According to theGospel of John (for example John 19:14), this was the day that Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem. (TheSynoptic Gospels place the day on 15 Nisan, see also Chronology of Jesus.)Irenaeus records the diversity of practice regarding Easter that had existed at least from the time of Pope Sixtus I (c. 120). He recorded Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, observing the fourteenth day of the moon, whatever day of the week that might be, following a tradition which he claimed to have derived from John the Apostle.Around 195, Pope Victor I, attempted to excommunicate the Quartodecimans, turning the divergence of practice into a full-blown ecclesiastical controversy. According to Eusebius, synods were convened and letters were exchanged, but in the end, having overstepped his mark, Victor, the Bishop of Rome, was rebuked and had to back down.Eusebius of Caesarea (Church History, V, xxiv) notes:"But this did not please all the bishops. And they besought him to consider the things of peace, and of neighborly unity and love. Words of theirs are extant, sharply rebuking Victor.Among them was Irenæus, who, sending letters in the name of the brethren in Gaul over whom he presided, maintained that the mystery of the resurrection of the Lord should be observed only on the Lord’s day. He fittingly admonishes Victor that he should not cut off whole churches of God which observed the tradition of an ancient custom."

FIRST COUNCIL of NICAEA IN 325:

The First Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) declared that Easter was always to be held on a Sunday, and was not to coincide with a particular phase of the moon, which might occur on any day of the week. However, a new dispute arose as to the determination of the Sunday itself, since Sundays can occur on any date of the month. Shortly before the Nicean Council, in 314, the Provincial Council of Arles in Gaul had maintained that the Lord'sPasch should be observed on the same day throughout the world and that each year the Bishop of Rome should send out letters setting the date of Easter.[2]The Syriac Christians always held their Easter festival on the Sunday after the Jews kept their Pesach. On the other hand at Alexandria, and seemingly throughout the rest of the Roman Empire, the Christians calculated the time of Easter for themselves, paying no attention to the Jews. In this way the date of Easter as kept at Alexandria and Antioch did not always agree. The Jewish communities in some places, possibly including Antioch, used methods of fixing their month of Nisan that sometimes put the 14th day of Nisan before thespring equinox. The Alexandrians, on the other hand, accepted it as a first principle that the Sunday to be kept as Easter Day must necessarily occur after the vernal equinox.The Council of Nicaea ruled that all churches should follow a single rule for Easter, which should be computed independently of the Jewish calendar, as at Alexandria. However, it did not make any explicit ruling about the details of the computation, and it was several decades before the Alexandrine computations stabilized into their final form, and several centuries beyond that before they became normative throughout Christendom.

SYNOD of WHITBY in 664:

The Roman missionaries coming to Britain in the time of Pope Gregory I (590–604) found the British Christians, and the Irish missionaries who evangelized the English from the north, adhering to a system of Easter computation which differed from that used in the Mediterranean basin. This British and Irish system, on the evidence of Bede, fixed Easter to the Sunday falling in the seven-day period from the 14th to the 20th of its lunar month, according to an 84-year cycle.[3] The limits of Nisan 14 – Nisan 20 are corroborated by Columbanus.[4] The method used by the Roman Church was Nisan 15 – Nisan 21.[5] The 84-year cycle, the lunar limits, and an equinox of March 25 also receive support from McCarthy's analysis of Padua, Biblioteca Antoniana, MS I.27.[6] Any of these features alone could have led to occasional discrepancies from the date of Easter as computed by the Alexandrine method.This 84-year cycle (called the latercus) gave way to the Alexandrine computus in stages. The Alexandrine computus may have been adopted in parts of the south of Ireland in the first half of the 7th century.[7] Among the northern English, the use of the Alexandrine computus over the Brittano-Irish cycle was decided at the Synod of Whitby in AD 664.[8] The Alexandrine computus was finally adopted by the Irish colonies in northern Britain in the early 8th century.[9]